Ruminations on Life, the Universe and Everything... But mostly, Pakistan and Pakistani media...

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Irreconcilable Conspiracies? (Updated)

So, the honeymoon of the conspiracy maniacs has finally come to an end.

It has been confirmed that Shireen Mazari, that doyenne of hyper-nationalistic pseudo-patriotic nonsense nutters (a.k.a. 'everyone's out to get us because we are so brilliant' conspiracy theorists), who took charge of The Nation after the bitter falling out between patriarch Majid Nizami and nephew Arif Nizami, has been forced to resign her editorship. Staffers were formally informed of the change today.

Shireen Mazari: a particular kind of alaap

She lasted in her position about 14 months to the day. Though in one sense it seemed like a marriage made in heaven, it lasted slightly longer than I expected, given the humongous egos of both Ms Mazari and Mr Majid Nizami.

There has been a lot of speculation the whole day among journalistic circles about what exactly led to the falling out between obsessive India-bashing Majid Nizami (the main thrust of his 'doctrine' at the Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust[Pakistan Ideology Trust], which he heads, is that 'Hindus' will always be 'our' enemies) and obsessive Blackwater-behind-everything Ms Mazari. But as of yet, we do not have any confirmed details about the reasons. If anyone has solid information, please do share with us.

Meanwhile, no indication yet of the fate of Ms Mazari's 'political' cooking show (yes, she hosted a cooking show!) on Waqt TV. No doubt the handis would probably be a bit burned.

: : : UPDATE : : :

Ms Mazari has sent the following email in response to the speculation on the Pakistan-MEDIA discussion group to explain the circumstances of her departure (thanks to Marvi Sirmed for sharing it with us). We are reproducing the email as is (not much of an 'editor' is she?):

"I was nevee Chairman and Editor in Chief of TheNAtion but was the Editor. I have resigned today as I was asked to shift to Lahore where the owners want the editor to now sit full time. This was not possible nor was it part of my TOR so I resigned but have agreed to continue for a few days so a new editor can be appointed. There is really nothing conspiratorial at all - more an issu eof logisitics! Shireen Mazari"

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